17-stop outer borough light rail proposed as a NYC subway alternative

While pols and officials twiddle their thumbs and shift blame for the subway system’s current state of chaos, the Regional Planning Association (RPA) and Rockefeller Foundation are actively looking for long-term solutions to help ease the city’s transportation woes. As first shared by DNA Info, earlier this year the two organizations put out a design competition asking participants to develop proposals that could transform various areas of the New York metropolitan region. Four ideas were awarded $45,000 by the RPA and Rockefeller, one of which included a transportation alternative that would exclusively serve the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn.

The proposal, developed by New York-based firm Only If and Netherlands-based firm One Architecture, centers on using a light rail to carry commuters between the outer boroughs. The new network would support the existing subway system by alleviating some of the overcrowding experienced on Manhattan-bound trains which, as the Times highlights today, is the main reason delays have become so commonplace.

The light rail would use existing infrastructure, running along a 25-mile long freight-train track that would connect to four other commuter lines. The idea is in many ways similar to the Triboro Rx, a plan proposed by the RPA in the 1990s and revisited in 2015.

In addition to providing 17 stops that would extend between the Brooklyn Waterfront, Central Queens, South Bronx, and the North Bronx, the new transit system would also incorporate green spaces and parks to provide both community areas and improved water management.

The RPA and Rockefeller Foundation will showcase all four winning designs at Fort Tilden at the beginning of August through September.